In a blunt new racist policy, the
Israeli government decides to prevent its Arab citizens of renting or
buying houses in predominantly Jewish areas

The Israeli government has issued a
new policy yesterday, according to which Arab-Israeli citizens will be
prevented from renting or buying houses in predominantly Jewish areas.
The policy will become a law if the Israeli parliament approves of it.
The bill was presented by the Mefdal Party representative, Haim Drukhman,
who said that the law would reinforce the Jewishness of the State of
Israel (Alquds, 7/9/02). He added that the law would be a
victory for Zionism." (alquds
alarabi, 7/9/02). The Minister of Education, Limor Levnat, justified the
bill on basis of "the
basic Zionist rule: the return of the Jewish people to their land."
(Al-Ayyam, 7/9/02).

The leader of the leftist opposition,
Youseh Sarid, said that this decision is one in a series of decisions
the Sharon government has made that will make Israel a racist state (Alquds,
7/9/02). Israel's attorney general, Robinstein, criticized the bill
because it would increase the gap between Arabs and Jews in Israel. The
Israeli minister without portfolio, Dan Meridor, also criticized the
bill saying that it would involve a blunt discrimination against Arab
citizens. The bill has challenged a supreme court ruling, in March 2000,
that allowed Adel Qi'dan, to buy a house in the predominantly Jewish
neighborhood, Katsir. The former leftist member of parliament, Sholamit
Aloni, commented that the bill takes Israel closer to the apertheid
system of racial discrimination. The Labor Party members also criticized
the bill and announced their intention not to support it (Al-Ayyam,
7/9/02).

This new Sharon government decision
should be a wake up call for Americans, Jews and gentile, who have
supported the Israeli government without questioning its atrocities
against the Palestinian people. They should think about the reality of
Israel. It has not only subjugated the Palestinian people in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip for the past 35 years, it has also been drifting
toward a racial discrimination system within the Israeli society itself.
Israel should be boycotted until it stops its aggression against the
Palestinian people and until its racial discrimination is ended. Without
pressures from Americans, Israel will continue on the path of White
South Africa, which brought a lot of suffering.

It is more likely than not that the
bill be defeated because of opposition from the Israeli left, the Arab
members, and the Labor Party members. However, the bill should remind
supporters of Sharon in the US Congress and the Bush administration that
they are supporting a racist regime, and it is in their best interest to
distance themselves from it. It does not honor anyone to be a racist or
a supporter of a racist regime. Once again, Zionism is racism.